My Little Way

“The world’s thy ship and not thy home.”- St. Therese of Lisieux

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen! Today is one of the most, if not the most joyous day in the Church.

When Jesus rose from the dead, we were given the gift of eternal life. St. Therese said it so perfectly, how the world is only our means of getting to Heaven, our home. We wouldn’t have been able to get to our home if it wasn’t for Jesus’ death and his resurrection. Jesus had to endure the most cruel death in order for our sins to be redeemed, and then by his resurrection, we were purchased the gift of eternal life.

I would have liked to reflect on the joys of Easter, but there is something heavier that’s on my mind, and it’s important to our Church today. This morning, 200 people were killed in Sri Lanka during Easter Mass due to a bombing in the capital of Colombo and in Negombo. The target was St. Anthony’s Shrine, which is the largest Church in the country and is designated as the national shrine. The bombing also reached another Catholic Church, St. Sebastian’s in Negombo. In the report, they mentioned how violence has been plaguing the nation ever since the end of the country’s 26 year civil war in 2009, and how the pope visited the country in 2015 to try to promote peace. He said, “Just as she forgave her son’s killers at the foot of his cross, then held his lifeless body in her hands, so now she wants to guide Sri Lankans to greater reconciliation, so that the balm of God’s pardon and mercy may bring true healing to all.”

I don’t want to get graphic, but the report mentioned how there was blood splattered everywhere from the explosion. I feel like the detail is necessary in order to make the connection with Jesus’ own death. Just as Jesus shed his blood in order to end the rein of sin and death, I am hoping that these brave Catholics who shed their blood will bring forth an end to the violence and death that has taken a hold of our world. Jesus rose from the dead in order to conquer death, and I pray that our world will rise from this death and realize that we must end this culture of violence. I never want to see any violence happen and I am completely heartbroken from this event. Jesus’ followers must have felt the same way when the heard or watched Jesus die on the cross. They witnessed the cruel and painful death on the cross and felt that heartbreak. The Catholics of the world today experienced that same heartbreak as we mourn for our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka.

The quote that Pope Francis said when he visited Sri Lanka in 2015 made me think that’s how God must feel when he sees this world today. He forgives us for all of our sin, and then proceeds to hold this lifeless world in his hands. As Catholics, we must guide the world to reconciliation by our own actions and prayer, so God can bring healing to us. I know that Jesus would die his death all over again for us, but sometimes I feel so bad. We constantly sin, yet God forgives us and continues to show mercy. I wish that this world will finally experience a reconciliation, so we can all experience that mercy that God so wants to give us. The world is our ship in order to get to our home in Heaven. We need to cultivate the world to become a proper ship for us, so that it will be easier for us to get to our home. It’s easier to get to where you need to be, if you’re on a ship that’s headed straight for that destination.

We must continue to pray for an end to violence in our world, and pray for all those affected by this tragedy. As Saint Pope John Paul II said, “We are Easter People!” We are a people of life and of the Resurrection, not of death and violence.